Luke 20:27-38: A Tricky Question

This coming Sunday's gospel text (Luke 20:27-38) begins with a tricky word problem akin to some sort of religious standardized test (SRT). The Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, come to Jesus with a question about a woman. This is no normal woman, nor is it a normal question. They want to know the afterlife fate of a woman who subsequently marries seven brothers, presumably as they are all dying of natural causes, not being poisoned in their sleep. In this question scenario the woman bears no children and eventually dies herself. "In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be?" the Sadducees maliciously ask (cackling with a sinister laugh), then state, "For the seven had married her." In this moment the Sadducees grinning from ear to ear are attempting to pin Jesus down with the traditional teachings of the Faith. In particular the rule that when a wife's husband dies she is to marry the man's brother who will take care of her is being questioned in light of the belief that in the resurrection marital relationships still exist.

Sometimes we make a lot out of the differences between Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, Disciples, Apostles, disciples, etc. We have a modern analogy of our Christian denominations and how they differ, but I don't think that comparison works very precisely. Typically, I think when reading the gospel of Luke, I don't want to be like the Pharisee, but often times the Apostles and disciples are not doing any better. Instead of believing that Jesus wanted nothing more than to humiliate the Pharisees, or in this reading the Sadducees, it would be beneficial to see these religious leaders as foils, so subtract the sinister laugh from above and think that through the teachings of these others, Jesus clarified his own powerful message. 

In this Gospel, the Sadducees want Jesus to throw his hands up as soon as he hears this SRT question, but instead he expands the horizons of those asking the question. Immediately in his response Jesus turns the focus from marital relationships ("Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage") to a relationship with God ("those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead"). Jesus explains that in the age to come there are no earthly constraints, like marriage, upon resurrection relationships. For those who may love their spouse and enjoy the relationship of marriage this may be difficult to comprehend. "Why would God not want me to love my spouse forever?" one might ask. My understanding is that even the best relationships here on earth are not grand enough for post-resurrection life! In the resurrection there is no death or pain, so we who live in these mortal frames cannot fully comprehend post-resurrection relationships to make a marital commitment.

The Sadducees who relied upon Moses teaching were keen to use his words to show there was no resurrection, but Jesus turns the great Hebrew leader's words around to teach the Sadducees. Moses speaks of the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, which points to their present existence and shows, "He is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive." This is both a comforting and mystifying ending to the gospel.

As I read Jesus' response to this tricky question, I attempt to standardize it into some sort of post-resurrection system. Yet, I think this is what Jesus was warning the Sadducees not to do. I pretty quickly let my imagination run wild with what is coming on the other side of the grave, and the problem with that is not that I am thinking too big a vision of what is to come, but rather that I cannot possibly imagine something loving and lovely enough. For God is the God not of the dead, but of the living; for him all are alive! God is always with us, even at that difficult moment when we let go of this world and these earthly relationships.